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LONDON — BBC Chairman Richard Sharp will resign after a damning report into his appointment at the top of the U.K.’s public broadcaster, and a bitter row over a six-figure loan to Boris Johnson.
Sharp, an ex-investment banker and Conservative donor, secured the top scrutiny role at the public broadcaster in February 2021, in a move signed-off by the then-prime minister.
But, in a report published Friday, independent barrister Adam Heppinstall found Sharp failed to declare two “potential perceived conflicts of interest” when going through the appointments process for the BBC post.
Sharp confirmed he would stand down at the end of June, although said the breach was “inadvertent and not material.”
The findings in part relate to Johnson’s securing of an £800,000 loan from the financier Sam Blyth while prime minister, first brought to light through reporting by the Sunday Times. Sharp introduced Blyth to the U.K.’s top civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, to discuss the potential loan.
Heppinstall found Sharp informed Johnson that he wished to apply to chair the BBC board “before he made his application in November 2020,” and that he told the then-prime ahead of his interview for the post that he would make the introduction between Blyth and Case.
As a result, the report found “a risk of a perception that Mr Sharp was recommended for appointment because he assisted … the former prime minister in a private financial matter, and/or that he influenced the former prime minister to recommend him by informing him of his application before he submitted it.”
BBC ‘tarnished’
In a statement Friday, Sharp said his breach of the U.K.’s public appointment rules “was inadvertent and not material,” but added: “Nevertheless, I have decided that it is right to prioritise the interests of the BBC.”
Top BBC jobs often face heavy public scrutiny in the U.K.. The broadcaster, which is bound by impartiality rules, has faced a series of storms in recent years over perceived political influence.
Under the BBC’s founding Royal Charter, the BBC chairman is picked by the U.K.’s culture secretary and prime minister, with that decision scrutinized by an assessment panel.
The Sharp row has already prompted calls from the opposition Labour Party for an overhaul of those rules.
“Rishi Sunak should urgently establish a truly independent and robust process to replace Sharp to help restore the esteem of the BBC after his government has tarnished it so much,” said Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell.
Sharp said he had acted “at all times in the public interest, and for the betterment of the BBC,” including fighting for the return of government funding for the broadcaster’s flagship World Service, subject to heavy cuts over the past decade.
“To chair this incredible organisation has been an honour,” he added.
This developing story is being updated.
